Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-08-20

with his long arms to the coping, lifted hil
head above 1t and gazsd over.
Il see but one man" be said He is armed
and carries a basket III his hand"
"Open the door," said. "Umslopogaas
take thine AK and stand thereby. Let one
man pass. II another follow, slay."
The door was unbarred In the shadow OF
the wall stood Umslopogaas, his ak raised
above his head to strike. Just then the moon
came out There was "a moments pause, and
then In stalkei Nasal Elmoran, clad in the
full war panoply that l have already de-
scribed, but bearing a large basket in his
hand The moon shone bright upon his great
spear as he walked He was physically a
splendid man. apparently about thirty y-iive
years of age Indeed, none of the Nasal that
saw were under six feet high, though mostly
quite young. When he got opposite TO Us he
halted, put down the basket and struck the
spike of his spear into the ground, SO that It
stood upright
Let us talk, d" he said "The first messenger
We sent to you could not talk y and he pointed
to the head which lay upon the paving nf the
stoep-a ghastly sight in the moonlight: but
have words To speak if We have ears to hear.
Also bring presents" and he pointed 10 the
basket and laughed with All air Of staggering
insolence that is perfectly indescritabie, and
yet which one could not hut admire, seeing
that he was surrounded by enemies
Say on said Mr. Mackenzie.
Il am the 'Lygonani twar captainl "of q
part of the Nasal OF the Guasa Amboni. l
and nv men followed these three white men,
and he pointed to Sir Henry, Good, and my
self but they were too clever for u.s. and
escaped hither. We have a quarrel with
them, and are going to kill them
Are you, my friend." said 10 myself.
"In following these men We this morning
caught two black men. one black woman, a
white donkey, and white girl. One of the
black men we killed-there is his head upon
the pavement; the other ran away. The
black woman, the little white girl, and the
white ass we took and brought with us In
proof thereof have brought this basket that
she carried. Is it not thy daughters basket r
Mr. Mackenzie nodded and the warrior
went on.
Good! With thee and thy daughter We
have no quarrel, nor do we wish to harm
thee, save as TO thy cattle, which we hsvo
already gathered. 240 head-a beast for every
mans father
Here Mr.. Mackenzie gave a groan, as he
greatly valued this herd of cattle. which he
bred with much care and trouble.
$50, save for the cattle, thou mayst 60
free; more especially" he added, frankly.
glancing at the wall, -as this place would bs
"A difficult one to take But as to these men
it is otherwise; We have followed them for
eight days, and must kill them We're We to
return 10 our kraal without having done so,
all the girls would make a mock of US So,
however troublesome it may be, they must
die
Now, have proposition for thine ear
We would not harm the little girl; she is too
fair TO harm, and has besides. brave spirit
Give us one of these three men-a life for a
life-and We will let her go and throw in the
black woman with her also This is a fair
offer, white man. We ask but for one, not
for the three; We must take another oppor-
tunity 10 kill the other two. | do not even
pick my man, though should prefer the big
one" pointing to Sir Henry; "he looks
strong and would die more slowly"
And if | say | will not yield the manf'
said Mr. Mackenzie.
Nay, say not So, white man." answered
the Nasal, for then thy daughter dies at
dawn, and the woman with her says thou
hast no other child. Were she older would
take her for n servant but as she is SO young
will slay her with NV own hand-ay, with
this very spear Thou canst come and see
an thou wilt give thee safe conduct" :"
and the fiend laughed aloud at his brutal
jest.
Meanwhile | had been thinking rapidly,
as one does in emergencies. and had come to
the conclusion that | would exchange myself
against Flossie. | scarcely like TO mention
the natter for fear it should be misunder-
stood. Pray do not let any one be misled
into thinking that there was anything
heroic about this, OF any such nonsense. 1t
was merely matter Of common sense and
common justice. My life was an old and worth
less one, hers was young and valuable Her
death would pretty well kill her father and
mother also, while nobody would be much
the worse for mine; indeed several charitable
institutions would have cause 10 rejoice there
at. 1t was indirectly through ME that the
dear little girl was in ber present position.
Lastly, man was better fitted TO meet death
in such a peculiarly awful form than a sweet
young girl. Not, however, that meant to
let these gentry torture me to DEATH am
far too much OF coward TO allow that,
being naturally timid man; my plan Was
to see the girl safely exchanged, and then to
shoot myself, trusting that the Almighty
would take the peculiar circumstances Of the
case into consideration and pardon the act.
All this and more went through my mind in
very few seconds.
"All right, Mackenzie" / said, "you can
tell the man that l will exchange myself
against Fiossie, only stipulate that she shall
be safely in this house before they kill me-
"Eh!' said Sir Henry and Good, simultane-
ously. That you don't"
mo. no" said Mr. Mackenzie, Il will have
no mans blood upon my hands II it please
God that my daughter die this awful death,
his will be done You are a brave man.
(which am not by any means) 'and a noble
man, Quatermain, but you shall not go"
If nothing else turns up l shall go" said,
decidedly.
This is an important matter" said Mac
kenzie, addressing the Lygonani, land We
must think il over. You shall have our an-
swer at dawn"
Very WELL white man, answered the sav-
age indifferently; only remember, if thy
answer is late thy little white bud will never
grow into a flower, that is all, for shall cut
it with this, and he touched the spear II
should have thought that thou wouldst play .
trick and attack us at night, but know from
the woman with the girl that your men arc
down at the coast, and that thou hast but
twenty men here. 1t . not wise, white
man. he added with laugh, ito keep SO
small a garrison for your bona" QkraaD.
We'll, good night and good night TO you
also, other white men, whose eyelids shall
soon close once and for all. At dawn thou
wilt bring me word. II not, remember it
shall lie as l have said Then turning to
Umslopogaas, who had all the while been
standing behind him, and sheph riding him,
as it were, Open the door for me, fellow,
quick now"
This was too much for the old chiefs
Elli tho Last Lis